What Is Phil's Favourite Piece Of Bushcraft Kit?
Written by Phil Brown, Badger Bushcraft Blog Thursday, 21 April 2011 09:10
Phil Brown, Badger Bushcraft Head Instructor, is delighted to have just had an article and photograph published by The Bushcraft Magazine in the latest Spring 2011 edition about his favourite and most essential piece of bushcraft kit.
Phil was asked by our good friend and The Bushcraft Magazine Editor Steve Kirk to write a short article about his favourite piece of kit. Anyone that knows Phil well will appreciate that he has a little too much kit to carry and that it might take a while for him to mentally sift through his kit mountain before making a decision!
In the end Phil settled on the pieces of his bushcraft kit that got the most use and gave him the most enjoyment and access to The Nature. His article a repeated verbatim below.
"Initially I thought it would be exceptionally easy to decide what this single item might be, but this has proved to be a most interesting exercise with very deep and personal thought processes.
My deliberations ranged from the obvious knife I use on a daily basis to the little coffee pot I brew an espresso in when I get out of my sleeping bag. The knife I love for a host of obvious reasons and the coffee pot provides a little nonessential treat that I truly relish when in the woods. Finally my thoughts settled on “What gives me the most frequent access to and enjoyment of The Nature?” – this was really quite obvious, it was my camera!
I am seldom without a camera these days as there have been so many precious and treasured moments that I have managed to capture and preserve for pleasure, posterity and reflection in my dotage.
Camera technology, especially in the digital form, has advanced in leaps and bounds since I first gave up 35mm for a memory card. At the moment I am using a Canon EOS 40D for most of my photography; although when size and weight are an issue I carry a small waterproof Pentax OptioWS80 or my Panasonic SDR-H85 camcorder. Even the video camera on my phone has allowed me to film adders basking on a sunny bank!
All of these are tools to partake in The Nature. They provide me with exceptional excuses for extensive bimbles, to test my field craft and gift to me an excuse to “stand and stare”. I really feel my life is enriched and my enjoyment of the great outdoors is enhanced by owning a camera and this is reason enough to name it my favourite piece of kit."
Reproduced in The Bushcraft Magazine article was one of Phil's favourite pictures. This particular picture is no technical masterpiece nor is it an amazing image - but it holds precious memories of Islay in 2007.
Phil has had previous articles published by The Bushcraft Magazine about kit and what to pack for an overnight adventure. He has also had one of his pictures featured on The Bushcraft Magazine front cover:-
For those of you that have not read The Bushcraft Magazine we would reccomend you take a look - it's full of useful, wholesome articles and written with passion. Their ethos is also something we share here at Badger Bushcraft:-
"We at the Bushcraft Magazine make a point of showcasing the wild foods you can hunt or forage, the woods which are best for different purposes and how you can use what is around you. It is certainly not our intention to exploit our environment, rather, we are about changing our relationship with it and introducing a different and sustainable level of interaction and appreciation.
This website is here to help you in many ways, from news stories to weather forecasts. Please use this site as your gateway to "reconnecting to the landscape"." Click here to view their website
